With the release of Bupa's company premiums from the 1st April, Pacific Prime clients have reason to be pleased as Bupa once again show stability in their pricing adjustments, indicating that the strength of their costing construction is designed to increase longevity for the clients by remaining consistent.

Bupa's reputation as an insurer has always been strong as their size continually grows. One of the major contributing factors to Bupa's growth is that they are a providential association where all profits made are reinjected into the company as opposed to being given to the shareholders. This has provided Bupa with a tremendous advantage from a global perspective as it has allowed them to allocate funds into areas that other insurers would not be able to, particularly into the payment of claims where Bupa have far fewer exclusions than other insurers. For example, Bupa will cover all injuries caused at work even when the client has a high risk job such as Mining or Construction, as well as covering all injuries caused by sports and higher-risk pastimes such as rock climbing or paragliding.

This ability to utilise their cash flow specifically with the intention of assisting their clients, as opposed to growing the share value, has enabled Bupa to create an array of different programs and policies that other insurance providers may not be able to offer, such as the Worldwide Second Opinion service manned by independent, international medical experts. Bupa also allow clients on their company medical plans to access Medikidz for free. Medikidz is a program that creates cartoons which have been specifically designed for children to understand certain medical conditions, complex or simple, in a format that is clear enough so that the conditions can be properly understood. This is a great tool for families where any family member is diagnosed with a long term medical condition, by helping children to understand the situation and feel more comfortable with any specific life changes that may need to be made at home to accommodate the person with the illness.

With the international market for medical insurance growing, especially for SME (Small to Medium Sized Enterprises) groups, Bupa have made some eligibility adjustments to suit the market requirements. One of the main aspects of this is the reduction of mandatory group size to be eligible for an MHD (Medical History Disregarded) policy. Previously, Bupa would require at least twenty employees on the plan before they would be eligible for an MHS, this number has now been reduced and, on a case by case basis, could offer MHD to a group of 10 employees.

Offering MHD to groups is a key selling point as it means that the employees will be fully covered for any medical event, even it s related to a pre-existing medical condition. Usually, groups of this size would be subject to FMU (Full Medical Underwriting) and any medical conditions that exist prior to the start date of the policy would be excluded. The trend now, however, is for employers to offer more superior levels of cover with SME groups to try and attract key employees and promote extended levels of staff retention as well as to minimise loss of productivity due to attrition, a common means of productivity reduction for expatriate companies.

Another major advantage for Bupa SME in groups is that, if an individual were to leave the group and require cover as an individual, they will allow the client to continue seamlessly onto an individual plan and maintain the same conditions from the group policy. This means that if a client does develop a medical condition while on the group plan, it will remain covered on their new individual policy. This is a very unique advantage of the Bupa group plans and could easily be considered one of the highlighting features of Bupa's commitment to expatriate clients.

Despite Bupa still only offering their original Lifeline plans to groups, they do have a separate BWHO (Worldwide Health Options) plan for individuals. Bupa are seriously dedicated to offering the highest level of group cover in the market Pacific Prime is confident that the insurer will maintain their position as one of the leaders in the field.